Playboy, philanthropist and genius Tony Stark, who has inherited the defense contractor Stark Industries from his father, is in war-torn Afghanistan with his friend and military liaison, Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes to demonstrate the new "Jericho" missile. The convoy is ambushed and Stark is critically wounded by one of his own missiles; he is captured and imprisoned in a cave by the terrorist group the Ten Rings. An electromagnet grafted into Stark's chest by fellow captive Yinsen keeps the shrapnel shell shards that wounded him from reaching his heart and killing him.